So with this three-team race for third place in the Western Con- ference, I figured I’d try to pick a coach’s brain about the brains.

Me: “Hey, Lionel Hollins. For all the basketball strategy involved, is a lot of it going to be about mental toughness?”

Hollins: “A lot of it is going to be about who wins the most games.”

Thanks, Coach.

Still, as Hollins’ Grizzlies battle our town’s team and the L.A. Clippers for the Nos. 3, 4 and 5 seeds, many intangibles will come into play as these three teams claw for home-court advantage. You have the lobbers from L.A., the fast-breakers from the Front Range and the Mud-dwellers from Memphis, to paraphrase an awesome quote Zach Randolph told CBSsports.com. Talking about how some teams are all about highlight reels, the all-star said of his gritty Grizzlies: “We in the mud.”

Asked about mental toughness, Nuggets coach George Karl said: “There’s going to be another blip, we’re going to lose another game or two, but it’s how we bounce back, persevere and grow. The momentum going on right now, it’s a good challenge. I’m not going to put any expectations on it. If we put up a big win number and get beat out, I’m not going to panic. Because if we put up a big number, it means we’re playing well. The home-court advantage is impor- tant, but this team is good enough to win a 4-5 matchup without home court.”

So let’s break down the race. Entering this weekend, Denver’s remaining opponents had the second-highest winning percentage (54 percent) of the contending teams’ opponents in the Western Conference, this according to playoff- status.com, which actually exists. The Grizzlies’ opponents were at 51 percent and the Clippers were at 49, the lowest.

Memphis is strong, notably as the conference’s top defensive team, but something to consider is that five of its final seven games are on the road.

The Clips? They have only seven games against playoff teams, but one is a huge April 13 matchup against the Grizzlies. L.A.’s toughest stretch is a four-game road trip in late March, and it includes San Antonio and Houston.

The Nuggets don’t have that daunting of a stretch, only twice playing two quality teams in consecutive games.

I will tell you this, though: Some good team is going to finish fifth. That’s about as obvious a statement as something Lionel Hollins would say.

Familiar face. Remember Chris Copeland? After leaving CU in 2006, the forward played in the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Belgium and the NBA’s D-League. Now he’s with the New York Knicks, averaging 6.1 points.

“This experience, it’s just been a blessing. Unbelievable,” said Copeland, who played in front of 30 friends Wednesday at the Pepsi Center. “There’s so much fun to be back home, catch up with friends, some of my old teammates. It’s cool. It’s too much to sum up. It’s been an amazing ride.”

It’s official: Camby a great guy. Another old friend was in town with the Knicks — Marcus Camby, a former Nuggets shot blocker. Check out this story about Marcus, courtesy of Denverite Jim White: “Eight years ago, Marcus and his wife joined us to volunteer on Thanksgiving at Jackson’s sports bar (we have served there for over 15 years). When the day was finished, he asked me what it cost to feed the 1,200-plus homeless and low-income seniors. He offered right then to pay for the entire meal. He continues to do that, and has paid for the last eight years, long since he has left here, every Thanksgiving. He has, in fact, paid for more than 10,000 Thanksgiving meals. … The whole thing is so contrary to what most folks think about NBA players, and the fact that he continues to do it long after he left Denver is an incredible act of kindness.”

Nuggets fans remember the nasty defense of Jones, who irked shooting guards from New Orleans to Dallas to L.A. during the playoff run in 2009. Some cried foul about nonfouls.

Well, ol’ Dahntay was at it again last week, as Jones’ foot got under Bryant on a potential game-winning jumper. No foul was called, and Kobe limped off the court.

Bryant was tripped up, illegally, by Denver’s Jones in the 2009 Western Conference finals.

After the game last week, Bryant told reporters: “As defensive players, you can contest shots, but you can’t walk underneath players. … I can’t get my mind past the fact that I have to wait a year to get revenge.”

But what happened next was so 2013. Bryant went to Twitter to complain about the “#dangerousplay,” which the NBA later said should have been a foul.

Follow these tweets:

@kobebryant: #dangerousplay that should have been called. Period.

@dahntay1: Tape doesn’t lie. Ankle was turned on the floor after the leg kick out that knocked him off balance. I would never try to hurt the man.

@dahntay1: Leg kick that makes contact with a defensive player is an offense foul. Period. The nba changed that rule 2 yrs ago. Stop it!

@dahntay1: I have the utmost respect for @kobebryant. I would never try to intentionally hurt him. Just wanted to contest the fadeaway. #thatsall

@dahntay1: Now what happened in ’09, I am not proud of. But it was a heated playoff series with a championship on the line.

Bryant, responding to a fan, said: I respectfully disagree. He knows what he did, and anyone with half a brain can see it. I don’t want it to happen to anyone else!

Benjamin Hochman was a sports columnist for The Denver Post until August 2015 before leaving for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, his hometown newspaper. Hochman previously worked for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes for its Hurricane Katrina coverage. Hochman wrote the Katrina-themed book “Fourth and New Orleans,” published in 2007.

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